This fine is moronic on so many levels I'm just cringing in disbelief:
Google search engine is not a public service - they don't owe anything to anyone, they are free to show whichever results they want to and deem necessary.
Google is not the only search engine in the world - there's Bing, Yahoo and others. How on earth can they abuse their "monopolistic" position if there's none?
Google is not selling you their search engine - it's provided basically free of charge (sans ads you may or may not click).
Exactly. Thank you. And the US should be doing likewise. In other times they took apart Standard Oil and Ma Bell. Microsoft? just a slap on the wrist. Google? Crickets.
This is a little different since it's a freely chosen service with competition, not production of a product. The only feasible way to make them not a monopoly would be to make their service worse so people stop choosing to use them.
You're missing the point. Google is a near-monopoly. That isn't a problem. Google is using its near-monopoly position in search to push another one of its products to the expense of its competitors. That's a problem.
What good is a ticket to the good life, if you can't find the entrance?
This is utterly insane (Score:2, Troll)
This fine is moronic on so many levels I'm just cringing in disbelief:
Re: (Score:2)
they don't owe anything to anyone, they are free to show whichever results they want to and deem necessary.
Not according to the law.
How on earth can they abuse their "monopolistic" position if there's none?
They have over 90% market share. That's enough according to the law.
Google is not selling you their search engine
The complaint is that they are using their free search to promote their other businesses over competing businesses.
Re: (Score:1)
> Not according to the law.
Exactly. Thank you. And the US should be doing likewise. In other times they took apart Standard Oil and Ma Bell. Microsoft? just a slap on the wrist. Google? Crickets.
Re:This is utterly insane (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You're missing the point. Google is a near-monopoly. That isn't a problem. Google is using its near-monopoly position in search to push another one of its products to the expense of its competitors. That's a problem.